Three Jailed for Auschwitz Sign Heist

Posted on Mar 18, 2010

Wikimedia Commons / Logaritmo

The original Auschwitz sign marking the gate at the Nazi concentration camp-turned-museum has been retrieved and is being repaired.

Stealing the infamous “Work Sets You Free” sign from Auschwitz has landed three men in the slammer. On Thursday, a Polish court in Krakow doled out relatively short prison sentences to the trio, who admitted to the crime and thus skipped a trial. Meanwhile, a stand-in sign has been erected at the Auschwitz gate while the original sign is under repair. —KA

BBC:

Two other Poles remain in custody over the theft of the 5m (16ft) wrought-iron sign, which was quickly recovered.

It had been half-unscrewed, half-torn from above the memorial site’s gate and cut into three pieces to ease the thieves’ getaway.

The three convicted on Thursday were named as Radoslaw M, Lukasz M and Pawel S.